Position: 2000 LT, 06°32’ S, 008°45’W
Date:Saturday May 15, 2010

Steering-wheel-free

The stable trade winds allow us to varnish the pinrails on the bulwark. The clewlines and buntlines are not being used on these prevailing winds, so a few days ago we removed the pins to varnish the rails. On the maindeck the end is near on the varnish projects. In the meantime on the aftdeck old layers of varnish are removed to start building new layers.
The ultraviolet light deprives the old layers of their protecting effect. From a certain point a new layer on top is not doing helping anymore and certainly not making it prettier. The steering-wheel behind the charthouse has been sanded today. To be able to reach all of it, the ship had to be made uncontrollable… or actually steering-wheel-free. Nevertheless, we still have a steering-wheel a bit further on the aftdeck. Luckily this one is still attached to the ship. 

Richard Slootweg
Captain Clipper Stad Amsterdam